Articles of the Constitution

The remainder of the constitution consists of seven articles.

Legislative power

Main article: Article One of the United States Constitution

Article One establishes the legislative branch of government, U.S. Congress, which
includes the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Article establishes the
manner of election and qualifications of members of each House. In addition, it provides
for free debate in congress and limits self-serving behavior of congressmen, outlines
legislative procedure and indicates the powers of the legislative branch. Finally, it
establishes limits on federal and state legislative power.
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Executive power

Main article: Article Two of the United States Constitution

Article Two describes the presidency (the executive branch): procedures for the
selection of the president, qualifications for office, the oath to be affirmed and the
powers and duties of the office. It also provides for the office of Vice President of the
United States, and specifies that the Vice President succeeds to the presidency if the
President is incapacitated, dies, or resigns, although whether this succession was on an
acting or permanent basis was unclear until the passage of the 25th Amendment.

Article Two also provides for the impeachment and removal from office of civil officers
(the President, Vice President, judges, and others). (See presidential system)
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Judicial power

Main article: Article Three of the United States Constitution

Article Three describes the court system (the judicial branch), including the Supreme
Court. The article requires that there be one court called the Supreme Court; Congress,
at its discretion, can create lower courts, whose judgments and orders are reviewable by
the Supreme Court. Article Three also requires trial by jury in all criminal cases, defines
the crime of treason, and charges Congress with providing for a punishment for it, while
imposing limits on that punishment.
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States' powers and limits

Main article: Article Four of the United States Constitution

Article Four describes the relationship between the states and the Federal government, and amongst the
states. For instance, it requires states to give "full faith and credit" to the public acts, records and court
proceedings of the other states. Congress is permitted to regulate the manner in which proof of such acts,
records or proceedings may be admitted. The "privileges and immunities" clause prohibits state
governments from discriminating against citizens of other states in favor of resident citizens (e.g., having
tougher penalties for residents of Ohio convicted of crimes within Arizona). It also establishes extradition
between the states, as well as laying down a legal basis for freedom of movement and travel amongst the
states. Today, this provision is sometimes taken for granted, especially by citizens who live near state
borders; but in the days of the Articles of Confederation, crossing state lines was often a much more
arduous (and costly) process.

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Process of amendment

Main article: Article Five of the United States Constitution

Article Five describes the process necessary to amend the Constitution. It establishes two methods of
proposing amendments: by Congress or by a national convention requested by the states. Under the first
method, Congress can propose an amendment by a two-thirds vote (of a quorum, not necessarily of the
entire body) of the Senate and of the House of Representatives. Under the second method, two-thirds of the
state legislatures may convene and "apply" to Congress to hold a national convention, whereupon Congress
must call such a convention for the purpose of considering amendments. Thus far, only the first method
(proposal by Congress) has been used.

Once proposed—whether submitted by a national convention or by Congress—amendments must then be

ratified by three-fourths of the states to take effect. Article Five gives Congress the option of requiring
ratification by state legislatures or by special conventions assembled in the states. The convention method
of ratification has been used only once (to approve the 21st Amendment). Article Five currently places only
one limitation on the amending power—that no amendment can deprive a state of its equal representation
in the Senate without that state's consent.

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Federal power

Main article: Article Six of the United States Constitution

Article Six establishes the Constitution, and the laws and treaties of the United States made in accordance
with it, to be the supreme law of the land. It also validates national debt created under the Articles of
Confederation and requires that all legislators, federal officers, and judges take oaths to support the
Constitution.

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Ratification

Main article: Article Seven of the United States Constitution

Article Seven sets forth the requirements for ratification of the Constitution. The Constitution would not
take effect until at least nine states had ratified the Constitution in state conventions specially convened for
that purpose. New Hampshire became that ninth state on June 21, 1788. Once the Congress of the
Confederation received word of New Hampshire's ratification, it set a timetable for the start of operations
under the Constitution, and, on March 4, 1789, the government under the Constitution began operations.

The Constitution was ratified by the states in the following order:

The First Amendment addresses the rights of freedom of speech and the press; the right of peaceful
assembly; and the right of petition. It also addresses freedom of religion, both in terms of prohibiting the
establishment of religion and protecting the right to free exercise of religion.

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Second Amendment

Main article: Second Amendment to the United States Constitution

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Third Amendment

Main article: Third Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Third Amendment prohibits the government from using private homes as quarters for soldiers without
the consent of the owners. Much as the Second Amendment, there is largely no case law. There has been no
Supreme Court case law, and only one odd case, Engblom v. Carey, which has even addressed the Third
Amendment.[2]

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Fourth Amendment

Main article: Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fourth Amendment guards against searches, arrests, and seizures of property without a specific warrant
or a "probable cause" to believe a crime has been committed. A general right to privacy has been inferred
from this amendment and others by the Supreme Court (See Griswold v. Connecticut), including a right to
abortion.

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Fifth Amendment

Main article: Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fifth Amendment also includes the "takings clause," which prohibits government from taking private
property without "just compensation." This is the basis of eminent domain in the United States. This is a
source of a fair amount of Constitutional law.

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Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Amendments

Main articles: Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Seventh Amendment to the
United States Constitution, and Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The next three amendments regulate the justice system. The sixth guarantees a speedy public trial for
criminal offenses. It requires trial by a jury (of peers), guarantees the right to legal counsel for the accused,
and guarantees that the accused may require witnesses to attend the trial and testify in the presence of the
accused. It also guarantees the accused a right to know the charges against him. The seventh assures trial by
jury in civil cases involving anything valued at more than 20 United States dollars at the time, which is
currently worth $300, when accounting for inflation. The eighth forbids excessive bail or fines, and cruel
and unusual punishment. In 1966 the Supreme Court ruled that the fifth and sixth amendments were to be
read to all persons placed under arrest, and as a result these two amendments have become known as the
Miranda warning or Miranda rights.

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Ninth and Tenth Amendments

Main articles: Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Tenth Amendment to the
United States Constitution

The last two of the first ten amendments contain very broad statements of constitutional authority.

The Ninth Amendment declares that the listing of individual rights in the Bill of Rights is not meant to be
comprehensive; that the people have other unenumerated rights not specifically mentioned in the
Constitution. The right of privacy has been interpreted as one of these unenumerated rights by many
people. The right of the people to keep and bear arms (the protection of which right the Second Amendment
prohibits infringement) is also often interpreted as another of these unenumerated rights by many people.
[3] Other, pre-existing, non-enumerated rights, besides just these two, continue to exist because of the
Ninth Amendment. There is little case law.

The Tenth Amendment provides that powers the Constitution does not delegate to the United States and
does not prohibit the states from having are "reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The
phrase "or to the people", somewhat puzzling as to its applicability, was included to prevent this clause
from overriding limitations on State powers within the States' respective constitutions.

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Subsequent amendments (11–27)

Amendments to the Constitution subsequent to the Bill of Rights cover many subjects. The majority of the
seventeen later amendments stem from continued efforts to expand individual civil or political liberties,
while a few are concerned with modifying the basic governmental structure drafted in Philadelphia in 1787.
Although the United States Constitution has been amended a total of 17 times, only 16 of the amendments
are currently used because the 21st amendment supersedes the 18th.

• Eleventh Amendment (1795): Clarifies judicial power over foreign nationals, and limits ability of
citizens to sue states in federal courts and under federal law. (Full text)
• Twelfth Amendment (1804): Changes the method of presidential elections so that members of the
electoral college cast separate ballots for president and vice president. (Full text)
• Thirteenth Amendment (1865): Abolishes slavery and grants Congress power to enforce abolition.
(Full text)
• Fourteenth Amendment (1868): Defines United States citizenship; prohibits states from abridging
citizens' privileges or immunities and rights to due process and the equal protection of the law;
repeals the three-fifths compromise. (Full text)
• Fifteenth Amendment (1870): Prohibits the federal government and the states from using a
citizen's race, color, or previous status as a slave as a qualification for voting. (Full text)
• Sixteenth Amendment (1913): Authorizes unapportioned federal taxes on income. (Full text)
• Seventeenth Amendment (1913): Establishes direct election of senators. (Full text)
• Eighteenth Amendment (1919): Prohibited the manufacturing, importing, and exporting of
beverage alcohol. (see prohibition) Repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment. (Full text)
• Nineteenth Amendment (1920): Prohibits the federal government and the states from using a
citizen's sex as a qualification for voting. (Full text)
• Twentieth Amendment (1933): Changes details of Congressional and presidential terms and of
presidential succession. (Full text)
• Twenty-first Amendment (1933): Repeals Eighteenth Amendment. Permits states to prohibit the
importation of alcohol. (Full text)
• Twenty-second Amendment (1951): Limits president to two terms. (Full text)
• Twenty-third Amendment (1961): Grants presidential electors to the District of Columbia. (Full
text)
• Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964): Prohibits the federal government and the states from requiring
the payment of a tax as a qualification for voting for federal officials. (Full text)
• Twenty-fifth Amendment (1967): Changes details of presidential succession, provides for
temporary removal of president, and provides for replacement of the vice president. (Full text)
• Twenty-sixth Amendment (1971): Prohibits the federal government and the states from forbidding
any citizen of age 18 or greater to vote. (Full text)
• Twenty-seventh Amendment (1992): Limits congressional pay raises. (Full text)